California Investor Spends $590 Million to Expand Footprint in Research Triangle Park

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., a Pasadena-based real estate investment trust that invests in office buildings and laboratories in the life science and technology industries, has acquired a large portion of the Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina, said a report in the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Triangle Business Journal.

The report, citing Durham County deed records, said Alexandria Real Estate closed on 253.11 acres at Parmer RTP for $590.4 million on Monday.

The purchase includes seven parcels across three deed transfers with properties at 14 TW Alexander Drive, 5 Moore Drive, 41 Moore Drive, two at 1818 Ellis Road, and two at 2400 Ellis Road in Durham, the report said.

The seller is Los Angeles-based Karlin Real Estate, which has been assembling land and developing the 500-acre campus for years, according to the Journal.

Alexandria Real Estate already has extensive holdings in Research Triangle Park, which features an R-and-D campus with 20 buildings with tenants that include LabCorp and Credit Suisse.

In April 2019, the company opened the Alexandria Center for AgTech-Research Triangle. The first phase, a 175,000 RSF (rentable-square-foot) redevelopment, opened fully-leased, with a second phase planned to open this year to offer 160,000 RSF.

The Center sits on the former site of Syngenta on the 5 Laboratory Drive campus, which Alexandria acquired in 2017 for $8.75 million.